The Benefits of Using DISC Assessments to Grow Sales

Knowing the secret to effective marketing to grow sales and drive profit is often elusive, even to the those with expert marketing skills. DISC Assessments can help you have better insights into the minds of your marketing and sales team, customers and prospects. Today I would like to share with you the importance of DISC Assessments for growing revenue.

What Are DISC Assessments?

DISC stands for four different personality traits: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. Theorized by William Moulton Marsten, and built upon by Walter V. Clarke, DISC is considered a personality profiling system, and is designed to provide an overview of how people behave and think.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the characteristics of each of the four personality types:

Dominance. As everything about the word “dominance” implies, those with this personality trait tend to be direct and decisive. Dominant type personalities are found to have high self-confidence, risk-takers, and problem solvers.

Influence. Those who know precisely how to connect with others, are great at empathizing, and have high levels of energy are part of the “influence” crowd. They place emphasis on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others.

Steadiness. Those who have a steadiness personality trait are steadfast and committed to what they do and take a steady approach to life. People in this category are also patient and highly focused. They often show sympathy for and loyalty to those around them.

Conscientiousness. The last category of DISC assessments is reserved for people who care about quality and competency. These individuals often prefer to work alone, are highly independent, and care about details. You will find those in the ‘C’ category accurate, precise, detail-oriented, and conscientious.

Note: The acronym DISC is often interpreted differently. For example, some sources state that the “C” stands for ‘competence.'

The Benefits of DISC Assessments

DISC assessments can help you to understand the members of your sales team or your customers. Benefits to using DISC assessments to grow revenue:

More insight about your sales staff, their strengths and where improvements could be made

A better understanding of the best methods to sell to people of different personality types

Improve abilities to design and market products or services

Improve team members’ self-awareness

Improve team dynamics and communication

Cultivate a culture of employee engagement

Connect with customers in a unique and meaningful way

How HR Managers Can Use DISC Assessments When Building a Marketing and Sales Team

Instead of adding a person directly into sales; use DISC assessments in the process of building a marketing and sales team. Each DISC personality trait brings a unique asset to the table; having a group of eclectic personalities - with each individual assigned to a specific role - can foster creativity and engagement. You are tasked with accommodating different personalities and learning styles as you hire, train, and manage your marketing team - DISC assessments provide you with the insight to know exactly what makes your sales team tick.

Teaching Your Sales Team How to Recognize and Connect with Different DISC Personalities

For example, how one may approach a sale for a dominant personality type - may be completely different than how one sells to someone in the steadiness category, who has no desire to be rushed. Not understanding how to talk to each customer type in a persuasive and meaningful way will close doors to new opportunities at first contact.

For a potential customer who has the personality type of “C”DO: Be patient yet persistent. DON’T: Speak in overgeneralizations.

For a potential customer who has the personality type of “S”DO: Focus on explaining the “how” behind your plan. DON’T: Never be confrontational.

It's About Knowing Who People Are and What Motivates Them

To provide customers with a product that solves a problem; understand your customer, what their problem is, and how you can improve the situation. This includes knowing how people think, feel, act, and what motivates them.

As DISC Assessments are used to build and motivate your sales and marketing team, they will also give you more self-awareness about your own managerial skills and personality. Once you become familiar with DISC Assessments, I suspect they will be added as a key piece to your leadership development program.

There are many DISC providers with varying service levels. If you're interested in exploring the options please email me here.